Some recommendations from myself include Nasser Hussain's autobiography 'Playing with Fire', 'Cricket and Conspiracy' by Peter Oborne which is about the career of Basil D'Oliveira and 'My Spin On Cricket' by Richie Benaud.

Atherton has the qualities required on an opening batsman, he is single minded and extremely boring. Which is great news if you are scoring 189 against South Africa and batting for 3 days, but perhaps not the sort of chap you want writing an interesting book. Mind you, "Athers" never forgets to remind us how great he thought he was throughout the book, with plenty of gripping text such as "I was only 3 days old, but as I gripped hard onto my soother, I knew how great I was and how one day, I would be England Captain". And "I was batting for Manchester Grammar against Scumtown Boys Academy for Under-Privileged Skangers and had no qualms about teaching them a lesson by batting all day for a gritty seven not out, despite the fact that these oiks had to practice on a football pitch covered in dog turds, I had to because one day I was destined to be England Captain". Don't be expecting to see a lot of "knob gags" or hilarious accounts of how Jack Russell once got a Weetabix stuck up his bum, but if you are into gaining an insight into how great Mike Atherton thinks he is, then this is the book for you.

Bit the bullet with the 1-click Kindle purchase button and am now reading Leo McKinstry's 'Geoff Boycott: A Cricketing Hero'.

Holy thunder****s, Batman. One of the most brutal biographies I've read (not that it couldn't happen to a nicer guy).

Some of what I've read in there would probably get him into the semis in the Infamous battle, and beat a few match-fixers along the way.

Btw, anyone know other biographies/accounts out there with seriously controversial content? Cricket dirt is more addictive than I thought.

Brett Hutchins's bio on The Don is probably the ultimate revisionist western.

By the way, I own a book by McKinstry called simply "Boycs" (which, looking at his Wiki bibliography, I suspect the book you've just finished is a resprayed version of) and I thought it fairly even handed.

Although, with all respect to the great man, what seems "even handed" as an assessment for him might be a complete hatchet job for less singular personalities.

Good stuff. I worked out I will need a minimum of $500 to afford the ones I want

For me space is as much an issue as cost. I have six or seven books on the sofa at the moment waiting for a home. Sterling work there Martin, as always. We ought to do a mini-season of CMJ I think, as we did for Roebuck. I have MCC in India and can start the ball rolling with that.

For me space is as much an issue as cost. I have six or seven books on the sofa at the moment waiting for a home. Sterling work there Martin, as always. We ought to do a mini-season of CMJ I think, as we did for Roebuck. I have MCC in India and can start the ball rolling with that.

Good idea. I have quite a few of his efforts. I think I will do Seasons Past